Trusting Météo France's forecast, I decided that today I had to head in another direction and get some height. Certainly this week has proved what a great base for cycling Die is, as the combination of wind and changeable weather has meant an avoidance of the high cols (still cold), Vercors (shrouded in cloud and rain most of the week), and anything too far south east (long slogs into powerful headwinds to get home). There's something in every direction from Die, and as soon as conditions allow, it's time to head for the hills.
I did have an ulterior motive for wanting to do Col de Menée today: apart from wanting a rather shorter ride, I had not yet seen the top of Mont Aiguille, and I reckoned that today's forecast gave me a good chance of seeing it. (Incidentally, it was pointed out - pardon the pun - what a silly name it is: look at the photos, and you'll see it doesn't resemble a needle at all. A joke, maybe.)
As you'll see, my hunch about the weather was correct, and the view of the mountain, along with the eastern ridge of the Vercors plateau was a sight to behold. And on the return descent I had all 21km of the road to myself, and enjoyed real warmth from the sun at last.
It takes just one ride like this to remind me what a wonderful place this is to be. But now I've got the long wait till the summer before I can remind myself all over again. It's worth the wait though.
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